Friday, September 20, 2013

Vaadin 7 UI Design By Example - Alejandro Duarte

I started learning Vaadin way back 2011. I was looking for a framework that I would feel comfortable since I came from a Java Swing framework. I tried both JSF (primefaces) and ZK but as I was still searching for what framework would fit my skills and I ended up reading a blog from designbygravity . It was the first time that I have heard Vaadin and since we both came from a desktop UI development, I do understand his sentiments about other frameworks since I also experienced trying those technologies. So, the rest is history, Vaadin works like a charm for me, I became more productive in terms of web application development.

Vaadin have full support with eclipse but I still prefer using Netbeans even though I have to do all the layout by hand rather than the drag-n-drop component in eclipse. But when Vaadin 7 came out, there was a major overhaul that those from Vaadin guys did with the framework. Netbeans plugin became obsolete, it will not work with v7 anymore, you have to manually add all those dependencies that will work for the latest version. I was already frustrated trying to run the v7 from Netbeans and already considering of migrating to eclipse (already working with my prototype) but not until I have read this book by Aljandro Duarte - Vaadin 7 UI Design By Example. When I scanned the table of content of the book I was looking for an example on how to run v7 in Netbeans and VOILA! the book covers all the basics including the easiest way to create Vaadin 7 projects in Netbean by using Maven (sorry eclipse).

The author made Vaadin look so easy to work with, It's like served on a silver platter. I can count in my fingers how many questions I have posted in the community and the rest are just there and this book so far exceed my expectations.

When it comes to Vaadin layout this should be your bible. Highly recommended. 5/5.